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SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- Planning and Development Director Michael Love told City Council during its meeting Monday (Nov. 10) that a federal court has appointed a receiver for the Notre Dame College property, and that the receiver, David Baker, has stated a goal of quickly selling the 48-acre property. Meanwhile, those who filed a lawsuit in Cleveland Municipal Court with the goal of re-opening the college still have hope of seeing that goal realized, said City Council President Justin Tisdale, a plaintiff in that suit. “We have had an initial meeting with the receiver,” Love told council, “and we’re confident that we’ll see a really positive outcome for the Notre Dame property in 2026. Hopefully, sooner in 2026 than later, but I think this is a very positive step forward and we can, hopefully, see something really exciting happen for that property.” Notre Dame College, 1857 S. Green Road, officially closed following its spring semester in May, 2024. Reasons given for the closure were declining enrollment, rising costs, and a significant amount of debt. Baker is the managing partner of the firm Aurora Management Partners, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte is also home to Bank of America, the bank to which Notre Dame College is indebted. Aurora also has a Cleveland office. “How this came about,” Love said following Monday’s meeting, “is that the Ohio Attorney General (Dave Yost) and Bank of America reached a settlement, which the federal court judge and the (Cuyahoga) County Common Please Judge (Timothy McCormick) have signed off on. “And this (settlement) allows the receiver, David Baker, to be appointed the person in charge of the property. So he’ll be in charge of maintaining the property and getting it sold. “And then for everything else to do with the college, all of their remaining accounts and stuff, the Ohio Attorney General is appointing their own receiver to oversee all of that. “It’s two separate processes, but this is a very good thing because I believe it will allow the property to be quickly sold, and David Baker, having met with him, said that is his goal, to get the property sold quickly.” Notre Dame College still exists as a legal entity, and thus still has accounts to be managed. As far as interested buyers of the Notre Dame acreage and buildings, Love said, “Yes, there’s a few parties that have expressed interest -- I can’t get into any more detail than that -- but I think the parties that we’ve spoken with, any of them would be a really good outcome for the property. “I think it can be very exciting, and we’re excited to see what the next chapter holds, for sure.” The Ohio Attorney General’s Office, in May of this year, sued the Notre Dame College Board of Directors in Cuyahoga County, alleging that the college’s leaders illegally spent money from its restricted endowment fund in order to pay debts. The lawsuit claims that the college used restricted funds for purposes other than what donors intended, and did so without the necessary permission from the attorney general’s office. The suit also asked that a third-party receiver be appointed to take control of the college’s assets, and for the restricted funds to be returned for charitable purposes. This case is still proceeding in terms of trying to recoup the restricted funds. Bank of America also sued NDC, in federal court, seeking to recoup more than $20 million on the college’s defaulted debt. Bank of America also sought to have a receiver named. In spring, 2024, Tisdale, along with former NDC business professor Peter Corrigan and former NDC baseball coach and Cleveland Indians pitcher Len Barker filed suit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, claiming that money had been raised by donors to help pay off a significant amount of the college’s debt, but that the NDC Board declined to accept the donations and chose instead to close the college. In November, 2024, Corrigan spoke before South Euclid City Council and stated that Bank of America negotiators told him that the bank would have accepted 50 cents on the dollar for what it was owed, and would have thus reduced the overall debt owed to $8 million. The benefactors, Corrigan said, only had interest in keeping NDC open and were prepared to cover $8-million worth of debt. But, Corrigan added, the NDC Board would not give the benefactors permission to officially negotiate on its behalf with Bank of America. The lawsuits have combined to stall the sale of the property. The county, last year, valued the NDC property at $30.7 million. “Our lawsuit was to stop the sale of the college and to give us an opportunity (to re-open the college),” Tisdale said on Monday. “There’s still hope.” “We hope to get the college re-started because we want to bid and buy some or all of the land and re-open the college,” said Joseph Carney, a Westlake attorney representing Tisdale, Corrigan and Barker in their lawsuit. “We were part of the process that got the receiver (Baker) in place by removing our objections in federal court.” Carney, who is working on the case pro bono, said that his clients were part of the federal court case brought on by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, but exited that case by removing objections. “We have two common pleas cases (in Cuyahoga and Geauga counties),” Carney added. “We have appeals pending in those cases, but we’re approaching a settlement. “Both cases are related to our attempt to have the college let us bid on the land. Now, however, that the land is going to be up for bid through the federal court, we don’t need those (Cuyahoga and Geauga) cases anymore.”
